This application relates generally to the acquisition and use of items of digital data such as digital pictures, and, more specifically, to the labeling and sorting of such items.
Users of digital cameras typically acquire a large number of still images and/or sequential images of video clips that thereafter require a great deal of time to sort or classify if full use is to be made of them. Individual motion picture scenes taken by video cameras also require sorting and classification in order to be effectively used. Currently, cameras automatically add the date and time of the capture of images to their data. This allows some later sorting and organizing data of images and scenes but does not help in finding them on the basis of their content. Audio descriptions, which can be linked with images, may also be recorded in many cameras and subsequently organized, but this also does not help to locate data of images at a later time.
In order to avoid the necessity of having to look through a large number of such pictures after data of them have been acquired, the present invention makes it much easier and more effective for the user to create categories with descriptive terms in advance of taking pictures and then causes the camera or other image acquisition device to automatically associate individual pictures with labels (annotations) of the appropriate categories. The categories may be established by the user entering, directly into the camera, labels or annotations that identify some aspect of the picture or pictures that are expected to be subsequently taken. Once a particular annotation is selected by the user, all pictures subsequently taken are automatically associated with that annotation until another annotation is specified. In a specific implementation, an annotation is selected by the user by entering the annotation directly into the camera, which is then associated with all the pictures taken thereafter until another annotation is so entered into the camera.
If a user is on a trip, for example, one category may be labeled “Rome,” another “Milan,” and so forth. When in Rome, that label is selected by the user and all pictures taken after that designation have the “Rome” label automatically attached to them by the camera until another category is selected. When the user proceeds to Milan, that label is selected by the user and all pictures taken after that have the “Milan” label attached to them until some other annotation is chosen, and so forth. In a specific implementation, the camera responds to entry by the user of the “Rome” category by linking this description to all pictures taken by the camera until the user selects the “Milan” annotation, after which that is attached to all pictures until another annotation is selected, and so forth. Events such as birthday parties, anniversaries, graduations, and the like, may also commonly be the subject of labels that are automatically associated within the camera with pictures taken of those events. Further, the names of individuals whose pictures are to be taken may be specified in an annotation. Also, the annotation may be of a date or time that one or more pictures are expected to be taken. In general, an expected content, attribute or circumstance of taking one or more pictures can serve as their annotation. The content of the category labels is not limited but rather may be any aspect of the picture(s) that the camera user determines to be helpful for the later classification and use of pictures about to be taken.
The camera may be provided with a small keyboard for entry of the category labels by the user, or the picture display screen included with most cameras may be made touch sensitive for entry of alpha-numeric characters with the help of a hand held stylus. Generally more convenient for the user, however, is to provide the camera with a microphone and the capability to store data of an audio description entered by the user speaking it. A loud speaker may then also be included in the camera for use by the user to listen to previously recorded annotations associated with pictures being viewed on the camera's display or to edit the annotations. The audio labels are not part of any soundtrack that is acquired at the image scene simultaneously with capturing the images but rather are created and stored separately for the purpose of classifying the images. The camera may also include a processing capability to convert the speech to text that is then stored in memory along with the pictures with which the annotation is subsequently associated. Alternatively, in order to avoid the camera having to perform such intensive processing, such speech-to-text processing may be done by a processor to which the camera is temporarily connected, such as a processor that is made available on the Internet for such purposes or a personal computer (PC).
Data of the pictures and annotations linked with them are then typically loaded from the camera into some another device that utilizes the data, such as a personal computer, a laptop computer, a DVD recorder or a personal video recorder (PVR). The camera may be directly connected to a utilization device by a cable or wirelessly, or through a data network that can include the Internet, or by use of a non-volatile memory card that is physically removed from the camera and then connected with the utilization device. The utilization device then preferably processes the data to automatically place the pictures in folders that are titled with the annotations to which they are linked. For example, the pictures associated in the camera with Rome are automatically placed in a folder labeled “Rome,” those with Milan in a folder named “Milan,” and so forth. This provides the camera user a very convenient and largely automatic categorization of pictures that have been taken. Particularly, the naming of categories and sorting pictures into categories after the pictures are taken are then both unnecessary. This is a particular convenience for a user who takes a very large number of pictures.
The utilization device may also include a microphone for the user to enter a particular annotation to retrieve associated pictures by speech, wherein the device includes speech-to-speech processing, if the annotations are stored as audio data, or speech-to-text, if stored as text or in some coded form. Indeed, the camera may be provided with the same speech retrieval capability if its processing power is sufficient.
Additional aspects, advantages and features of the present invention are included in the following description of exemplary examples thereof, which description should be taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
All patents, patent applications, articles and other publications referenced herein are hereby incorporated herein by this reference in their entirety for all purposes. To the extent of any inconsistency or conflict in the definition or use of terms between any of the incorporated publications and the present application, those of the present application shall prevail.